Rock Shox 30 Gold TK Suspension Fork (2014)

Minus:
Only 9mm thru axle mounting, lack of sensitivity on small bumps

Roch Shox has launched recently a new fork, the 30 Gold TK, that will be available starting from next season, and that will suit budget bike buyers. Performance is reasonable from what we tested, especially that it comes in a moment when the market is flooded with low-cost models that don’t deliver enough satisfaction.

Pricing will be set somewhere around 250 euros, and while it’s not exactly the cheapest budget model, the price-performance ratio is worth the money. By comparison, the Recon Silver TK Air, which is 300 grams heavier, costs 260 euros, and doesn’t provide far better performance than the 30 Gold TK.

For now we don’t know exactly if the forks’ air cartridges differ a lot, but the feedback while riding is pretty much the same. Rock Shox 30 Gold TK relies on 30mm stanchions, managing to be stiff even so. Dampening is decent, the fork responding well when tackling either bigger or smaller bumps, and this has very much to do with the Solo Air cartridge, that has a Shrader valve which allows introducing air separately in the lower or upper chamber. And if we’re in the comparison area, we must say that, unlike in the cases of the Reba or Revelation models, the shock doesn’t slide as smooth.

Rock Shox 30 Gold TK has 100mm of travel, more than enough for cross country mountainbiking, a remote lock-out and the rebound function. For proper functioning, you will have to introduce the right amount of air in the cartridge, according to your bodyweight, but that’s no problem since the manufacturer placed a sticker with such a chart near the valve.

Finishing touches are a-ok, topping the competitors from this point of view. Nevertheless, the durability matter is not very clear, neither is the exact price, but regarding the first aspect, there shouldn’t be major problems, as with Rock Shox forks in general.

For this moment, the 30 Gold TK features only a 9mm QR thru axle, yet the weight figure will probably make you forget any flaws. In the 26 inch wheel version, the scale indicates 1,66 kilograms, so this might just be next hit among air cartridge forks.